Are music storage lockers legal in the US?

Earlier this week, a US District Court released an import decision on the legality of music lockers services under US law. In the Capital Records , Inc v MP3Tunes, LLC, 2011 WL 3667335 (S.D.N.Y., Aug 22, 2011) case, the court ruled that MP3Tunes was liable for contributory infringement by providing storage locker services to its users when it knew that they had unlawfully downloaded copyright protected materials into the lockers. MP3Tunes was found liable because it allowed users to continue to store and access songs listed in valid copyright takedown notices. In the summary judgment motions ruled on, the court also held that MP3Tunes was not liable for allowing users to continue to store and access songs it was not required to remove under the DMCA.

There has been a lot of comments on the implications of the decision for other services including Google and Amazon’s storage locker services such as those here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.

The case isn’t over yet. Ultimate the disposition of the MP3Tunes case will depend on the resolution of key issues under the DMCA that are now before the Second Circuit in the Viacom v YouTube and the Ninth Circuit in the UMG v Veoh cases. We are much more likely to know about the legality of these services when those cases and perhaps the US Supreme Court have ruled on them.

Kodi boxes pre-configured to enable buyers to stream and download movie and TV content are proving to be a challenge to producers and distributors of this content in Canada and around the world. Recently the ...

Archives

This website may use cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

disable

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.